scholarly journals The Nature of Host Community Participation in Informative Consultation and Decision-Making Processes in Tourism Development: A Case Study of Umhlwazini, Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5(J)) ◽  
pp. 93-105
Author(s):  
Nduduzo Ngxongo ◽  
Nsizwazikhona Chili

Tourism industry in the central Drakensberg region has enjoyed a noteworthy growth in visitor influx and earnings as well. Conversely, poverty and poor living conditions in and around villages positioned nearby to major tourist destinations in the country continues to degenerate, which ultimately raised the issue regarding the contribution of host communities in tourism decision making and informative consultation processes. Community consultation and participation in decision making processes constitute a crucial component that offers assurance to the host community that tourism benefits will be shared with the community and that their views will be considered when making tourism decisions. Thus, this paper aims at exploring the existing extent of community consultation and participation in tourism decisions making, using a case study of Umhlwazini, Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal. The study incorporates a qualitative research approach with the use of interviews, focus groups and observations. The research findings show that the informative consultation process of community in the study area has been centralised, controlled, and minimal to none regardless of the constant aspirations of the host community to participate in decision making processes. Agreements and decisions relating to tourism and the community resources are agreed upon by outsiders who have no interest of the community at heart. The study recommends a private-public partnership, financial support for small local business enterprises, policy development and amendment to promote active community participation in tourism consultation and decision-making processes. This study contributes to a broader context of community participation in decision making structures, and present scholarly significance to researchers, students and academicians, and theoretical value to government, policy makers, investors and tourism authorities. 

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Nduduzo Ngxongo ◽  
Nsizwazikhona Chili

Tourism industry in the central Drakensberg region has enjoyed a noteworthy growth in visitor influx and earnings as well. Conversely, poverty and poor living conditions in and around villages positioned nearby to major tourist destinations in the country continues to degenerate, which ultimately raised the issue regarding the contribution of host communities in tourism decision making and informative consultation processes. Community consultation and participation in decision making processes constitute a crucial component that offers assurance to the host community that tourism benefits will be shared with the community and that their views will be considered when making tourism decisions. Thus, this paper aims at exploring the existing extent of community consultation and participation in tourism decisions making, using a case study of Umhlwazini, Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal. The study incorporates a qualitative research approach with the use of interviews, focus groups and observations. The research findings show that the informative consultation process of community in the study area has been centralised, controlled, and minimal to none regardless of the constant aspirations of the host community to participate in decision making processes. Agreements and decisions relating to tourism and the community resources are agreed upon by outsiders who have no interest of the community at heart. The study recommends a private-public partnership, financial support for small local business enterprises, policy development and amendment to promote active community participation in tourism consultation and decision-making processes. This study contributes to a broader context of community participation in decision making structures, and present scholarly significance to researchers, students and academicians, and theoretical value to government, policy makers, investors and tourism authorities. 


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Lahti ◽  
Suvi Päivikki Nenonen ◽  
Erkki Sutinen

Purpose Future places for learning and working are digitally and physically integrated hybrid environments. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the co-creation process of the remote presence-based digital and physical co-working and co-learning place. The context is cross-cultural when Finnish space approach is applied and further developed in Namibia. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study is conducted of the Future Tech Lab (FT Lab) in the University of Namibia’s main campus. The case study of the FT Lab is about 200m2 space with three different zones in the University of Namibia’s main campus. The physical solution encourages collaboration and technical solutions interlink the place overseas by using the remote presence. The data are gathered by using document analysis, observations, participatory workshops and interviews including structured questionnaire. Findings The action design research approach is a functional framework to co-create hybrid environments in two ways. It helps to design digital and physical solutions as integrated entity. Additionally, it provides a tool to analyse decision-making processes as well as design initiatives, also from the cultural perspective. Both Finnish and Namibian cultures are normative and feminine, which helped the realisation of the project based on mutual trust. However, the differences in power distance were affecting the process fluency and decision-making processes. Research limitations/implications The findings indicate that the co-design of the hybrid-learning environment sets requirements for the physical solution such as surface materials for premises and retrofitting of technology, which need to be considered by co-creation from the shared vision to realisation of the space. The co-creation involves many stakeholders, and cultural differences have a different impact on various stages of the co-creation process. Originality/value The cultural context in the case study provides an interesting comparison between the Finnish and Namibian approach. The remote presence and its requirements provide new knowledge and guidelines for co-creation of hybrid environments.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135481662098768
Author(s):  
Laura I Luna

The spatial analysis of tourism industries provides information about their structure, which is necessary for decision-making. In this work, tourism industries in the departments of Córdoba province, Argentina, for the 2001–2014 period were mapped. Multivariate methods with and without spatial restrictions (spatial principal components (sPCs) analysis, MULTISPATI-PCA, and principal components analysis (PCA), respectively) were applied and their performance was compared. MULTISPATI-PCA yielded a higher degree of spatial structuring of the components that summarize tourism activities than PCA. The methodological innovation lies in the generation of statistics for multidimensional spatial data. The departments were classified according to the participation of tourism activities in the value added of tourism using the sPCs obtained as input of the cluster fuzzy k-means analysis. This information provides elements necessary for appropriately defining local development strategies and, therefore, is useful to improve decision-making.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Salcedo ◽  
Alejandra Rasse

This paper addresses the scholarly debate on cultural homogeneity or heterogeneity of urban poor families. While authors such as Lewis (1959) or Wacquant (2000 ; 2001) claim that structural disadvantages are linked to a particular type of identity or culture, others such as Hannerz (1969) , Anderson (1999 ; 2002) , or Portes ( Portes and Manning, 1986 ; Portes and Jensen, 1989 ) believe that it is possible to find different behaviors, expectations, decision–making processes, and outcomes among people living in seemingly identical structural conditions ( Small et al., 2010 ). Using Santiago, Chile, as a case study, we differentiate five different cultures or identities among the poor. Those identities seem to be the product of different historical and political circumstances, as well as of different types of public policies. The paper ends with a discussion of the need for poverty reduction policies to consider these differences among the poor.


Author(s):  
Rysca Indreswari ◽  
Dyah Yuni Kurniawati ◽  
Irsyadul Ibad

Bongkotan Hamlet is the smallest hamlet located in Bojasari Village, Kertek District, Wonosobo Regency. In this place there is a site of Bongkotan Temple which is the legacy of the Syailendra Dynasty. Unfortunately, this rich history has not been managed optimally. Seeing this condition, Sigit Budi Martono along with creative activists in Bongkotan Hamlet invited the community to participate in reviving the tourism potential. The idea was initiated by creating the Kumandang Market located on Bongkotan hill, just across the Bongkotan Temple site area. It is intended that the existence of temple sites and village markets can be mutually integrated so that it can attract tourists to visit. Finally, after going through a preparatory process involving the local community, the official Kumandang Market was held on June 24, 2018 by utilizing the momentum of the Eid Mubarak holiday. Until now, the Kumandang Market has been held 18 times with the number of visitors increasing every week. This shows the existence of community participation in the development of the Kumandang Market. Based on the results of the study, community participation in the development of the Kumandang Market is indicated by the participation in decision making in Kumandang Market planning, participation in the implementation of the Kumandang Market, participation in taking utility of Kumandang Market, and participation in evaluating the Kumandang Market.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-547
Author(s):  
Mbuyiseni Goodlife Ntuli ◽  
Lawrence Mpela Lekhanya

This paper advocates the adoption of systemic thinking in decision-making processes in municipalities. Most importantly, in this epoch of managing in complex and thought-provoking business environment, decision making is one of the most important skills required by any manager to remain effective. The success of a municipality or any business hinges on how well decisions are taken and implemented. In this paper, I intend to scrutinize decision making processes at strategic management levels in the municipalities within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. In doing that, a mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative techniques was adopted in gathering data from sixty-one municipalities within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This was done in order to substantiate theoretical perspectives from different erudite scholars on the discourse of systemic thinking in decision making processes. This notion of systemic thinking is coined upon the universally used rational decision making process model. Thus, the conceptualization of rational decision-making model was also considered in this paper, the possibility of decision failure, the complexity of the municipality, and systemic thinking as the recommended option of dealing with complexity was explored. The results indicates that the theory that underpins the adoption of systemic thinking in dealing with complexity today’s business environment is relevant.


Author(s):  
Yangji Doma Sherpa ◽  
A. John Sinclair ◽  
Thomas Henley

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric dam construction. This research considered the role of the public both within and outside of development decision-making processes in these high mountain environments using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) in Manali as a case study. The qualitative data revealed that there has been an extensive array of public participation activity related to the HSV project over approximately 10 years. Very little of this activity has evolved, however, through the formal decision-making process. Rather, most participation activities, such as general house meetings, objection letters, public rallies, court cases against the proposed project, and a religious congregation were instigated by the public to protest the proposed development. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.


Author(s):  
Danita Catherine Burke

Abstract The Arctic Council is frequently called a unique forum but, as this article argues, clubs are common in international politics and in many respects the Arctic Council is a club. This article explores the questions: Why are the Arctic states acting like a club in Arctic politics, and how do internal hierarchies influence how clubs make decisions? As the article illustrates, clubs are the stage for club diplomacy and, in club diplomacy, hierarchies play an important role. Using the Arctic Council as an illustrative case study, this article argues that clubs have internal hierarchies that inform their decision-making processes and their responses to challenges to their status. When clubs try to deal with subjects that extend beyond the boundaries of the sovereignty of club members and the parameters of club membership, club members may suffer from a lack of status and legitimacy to unilaterally deal with the subject.


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